Process of constructing golf-balls.



i No. 790.398. PATENTED MAY 23, 1995.

J1". HQRICHARDS.

PROCESS OP GONSTRUGTING GrOLf| BALLS. APPLIGATION FILED 0017.15, 1904.

' UNITED STATES Patented May 23, 1905.

PATENT OEEICE.

FRANCIS H. RICHARDS, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR, BY

MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO PERFECT GOLF BALL COMPANY, A COR- PORATION OF MAINE.

PROCESS OF CONSTBUCTING GOLF-BALLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 790,398, dated. May 23 1905. Application flied october 15, 190A. serai No. 228,652.

To @ZZ whom it 7a2/ty concern:

Beit known that I, FRANCIS H. RICHARDS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Constructing Golf-Balls, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the process of constructing golf-balls from caoutchouc or rubber; and it more particularly relates to the process of covering such balls by the use of an improved plastic or gutta-percha strip to form the covering of the ball and which strip is so formed that after the same is wound upon the core and compressed thereon the mass of windings lying over and across each other in miscellaneous directions will be compressed and made to adhere to each other, so as to form a continuous closely-compacted cover or shell without any dividing seam or joint extending around the same and without any single weld-line similarly located.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification, Figure lis a perspective View of a portion aof this coveringstrip. Fig. 2 illustrates a ball, partly in section, being wound with such-v strip. Fig. 3

illustrates the ball wound with this strip and subjected to compression. Fig. 4 illustrates an enlarged section of the ball when completed with a different form of core, and Fig. 5 is a partly-sectional view of a completed ball.

Similar characters of reference designate corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawings.

, One step of the present process consists in the formation of a suitable plastic strip, preferably of gutta-percha, so that a playing-ball having its cover made up thereof will have certain advantages not present in balls heretofore made, and in carrying out this process I first provide a ribbon-like strip 2 of a suitable plastic material-such, for instance, as gutta-percha-and usually of considerable length and Yof not too great thickness, and

" which, as is well known, is ytensionally nonyielding, which gutta-percha strip is inv any suitable manner then provided with perforations 3, preferably extending throughout the entire length or the major portion of its length and located, preferably, equidistantly apart and usually located along the middle thereof and relatively close together. The strip, however, may be provided with a plurality of rows of perforations located with relation to each other in any suitable or desired manner. Having provided such a strip, I wind it upon a suitable core 4, so as to form amass of windings crossed and recrossed upon each other. The strip, in which the openings are of any desired shape, but shown herein as round and vformed by punching or otherwise, is during this step of winding tautlywound upon the core, which may be, as stated, of any suitable formation, the present form of cover, however, being particularly well adapted for a core made up of a perforated ribbon-like strip 5, such as that shown and described in the application of Eleazer Kempshall, filed October 8, 1904, Serial No. 227,660, and of which Figs. 4 and 5 are illustrations, it not being intended to claim herein the core or its making. These openings or perforations in the strip form spaces interiorly of the mass of windings when the strip is wound over and over upon the core or upon itself, so that when the ball thus roughly covered vis subjected to the finishing process by compressing the same in the forming and shaping dies or molds 6 and 7 the mass of windings lying over and across each other in miscellaneous directions will be compressed and made to adhere to each other, thus forming a closely-compacted cover or shell Withoutany dividing seam or joint extending around the same and without any single weld-line similarly located. When the pressure is applied, the molds are preferably warm to some degree for properly softening to a slight degree the material of the over- Wound strands. The strip before it is Wound or after it is wound will, especially when the strip is formed of gutta-percha, usually-be subjected to some treatment-such, for instance, as being treated with a suitable liquid or fluid, such as naphtha, to assist the molding thereof onto the core. During this compressing operation, at which time the usual brambling of the ball may also be accomplished, the mobility of the material permits the same to form or re-form the strands into a close-lying mass and operates also to force the material of the several layers or strands, as well as in some forms of balls a portion of the core. into the openings or spaces of the strands, thereby forming a kind of interlocking or intermeshing, as at 8, which is deemed to be an advantage by way of securing a complete covering of proper density and in which the adhering strands or windings are closely knit together by a peculiar interlocking arrangement of the several parts thereof.

From the foregoing it will be obvious that in some forms of balls the cover will be interlocked very thoroughly and compactly with the core, andin all instances the several layers of the cover will be interlocked with each other and when compressed will be practically an integral mass in which one layer will be practically indistinguishable from another. The external windings of thin gutta-percha even when the strip is formed without perforations, which form of strip may be advantageously used in some forms of balls, results in such a combination of the built-up shell-blank that on warming the shell or covering and then pressing it there is required a low heat only, not high enough to impair the elasticity of the outer layers of the rubber core and yet enough to firmly integralize the covering or shell and give it a perfect uniformity and continuity in all parts without any seam or joint, actual or incipient. rlhe process of forming a cover for a golf or other playing ball from a gutta-percha strip without perforations, however, constitutes the subjectmatter of a separate application.

By the term core as used herein and in the claims it is intended to mean the completed interior of a golf or other playing ball in condition to receive its cover or shell.

Having thus described my invention, l claiml. rlhe process of constructing a golf or other playing ball which consists in first providing a ribbon-like strip of plastic material, then perforating it, then winding it in superimposed layers, and then compressing it so that the perforations will receive portions of the underlying layers.

2. The process of constructing a golf or other playing ball which consists in first pro viding a ribbon-like strip of plastic material, then perforating it, then winding it in superimposed layers, then treating it, and then cornpressing it so that the perforations will re ceive portions of the underlying layers.

3. The process of constructing a golf or other playing ball which consists in first providing a ribbon-like strip of plastic material, then perforating it, then winding it in superimposed layers, then treating it with naphtha or a similar fiuid, and then compressing it so that the perforations will receive portions of the underlying layers.

4. The process of constructing a golf or other playing ball which consists in first providing a ribbon-like strip of gutta-percha, then perforating it, then winding it in superimposed layers, and then compressing it.

5. The process of constructing a golf or other playing ball which consists in forming a perforated strip, then winding it upon a core, and then subjecting the mass to pressure.

6. rThe process of constructing a golf or other playing ball which consists in first providing a perforated plastic strip, then winding it upon a core, and then subjecting the mass to pressure.

7. The process of constructing a golf or other playing ball which consists in providing a plastic strip with means for interlocking one layer with another, and then winding it upon a core.

8. The process of constructing a golf or other playing ball which consists in providing a plastic stri p with means for interlocking one layer with another, then winding it upon a core, and then subjecting the mass to pressure.

9. The process of constructing a golf or other playing ball which consists in providing a gutta-percha strip with means for interlocking'one layer with another, then winding it upon a core, and then subjecting the mass to pressure.

10. The process of constructing a golf or other playing ball which consists in providing a plastic strip with means for interlocking one layer with another when subjected to pressure, then winding such strip upon a core, and then subjecting the mass to pressure.

l1. The process of constructing a golf or other playing ball which consists in first providing a perforated strip of gutta-'pcrcha, then winding it upon a core, and then compressing it.

l2. rlhe process of constructing a golf or other playing ball which consists in first providing a perforated strip of gutta-percha, then winding it upon a core, then subjecting it to treatment, and then compressing it.

13. The process of constructing a golf or other playing ball which consists in providing a core and a perforated plastic mass to form the cover thereof, then applying such cover, and then compressing said mass upon said core.

14. The process of constructing a golf or other playing ball which consists in providing a core and a perforated cover, then applying such cover, and then subjecting said mass to pressure, thereby to press portions of the structure into the perforations of the cover.

l5. The process of constructing a golf or other playing ball which consists in providing a core and a perforated plastic cover, then ap- IOO plying such covering, and then subjecting said mass to pressure thereby to press portions of the structure into perforations of the covering.

16. The process of constructing a golf or other playing ball which consists in providing a core and a perforated covering formed of gutta-percha, then applying such covering, and then subjecting said mass to pressure thereby to press portions of the structure into perforations of the covering.

17. The process of constructing a golf or other playing'ball Which consists in providing a strip -With interruptions along its length and then Winding the same in superimposed layers, and then subjecting the mass to pressure to mold one layer onto another.

18. The process of constructing a golf or other playing ball which consists in providing a perforated elastic strip and forming a core therefrom, then providing and Winding thereon a perforated plastic strip, and then subjecting the Whole to pressure.

19. The process of constructing a golf or .other playing ball which consists in forming a perforated elastic strip, then Winding the same under tension into a core, then providing and Winding thereon a perforated tensionally nonyielding strip, and then subjecting the Whole to pressure.

20. The process of constructing a golf or other playing ball which consists in providing a pair of strips, one a perforated ribbon-like pure-rubber strip and the other a perforated gutta-percha strip, then Winding under tension the perforated rubber strip to form a core of superimposed layers, and then Winding thereon the gutta-percha strip, and then subjecting the mass to pressure to mold the layers of the gutta-percha strip into one integral mass.

Signed at Nos. 9 to 15 Murray street, NeW York, N. Y., this 12th day of October, 1904.

f FRANCIS H. RICHARDS.

Witnesses:

FRED. J. DoLn, JOHN O. SEIFERT. 

